We passed more groups of Hungarians, mostly wounded. A couple of smaller groups looked largely healthy, and the Hungarian sergeant we’d recruited laid into them with the indignation of a guilty conscience. Soon they were added to our growing numbers. The walking wounded we let continue, after shaking them down for ammunition and other equipment. If the walking wounded kept moving, they could make it to the bottom of the mountains by nightfall. There was little worry they would be caught out at night, unprepared.

The canyon walls got steeper. Here and there rock faces loomed impressively between the steep tree-clad slopes. We rounded a bend in the river, coming out of the trees, and suddenly before us loomed a narrow cleft in a vertical cliff. It was perhaps 30 yards across. Both the river and the road ran into it.

I called to the driver to pull up sharp, and the whole column stopped, with only our vehicle outside of the woods. I quickly motioned him to reverse and get us back into the trees.

Though I hadn't seen anything, this was a perfect place for a trap. I didn't want to get closer until we knew what we were dealing with.

Angelica came forward to see what was the matter, and I talked her through my concerns. She had good tactical sense, and nodded along as I pointed out was exposed after it came out of the trees and before it turned into the narrow cleft of the rock. From where we were, we couldn't see into the passage. The cliffs rose above the road and river, at least a hundred feet tall.

I called forward our Hungarian sergeant and asked him about the terrain.

“This is the Bicajel Gorge. The narrow parts are around 150 meters long. It bends to the north once you are inside.” He explained it was a couple kilometers to the next alpine village along the river. He and his men had been at a larger village a few miles beyond that until they were overrun the day before yesterday.

“We need to push through,” Angelica said. “We’re here to assist the troops still fighting.” The continued rattle of gunfire meant there were still Hungarian forces up ahead, probably in the first small village. If it wasn't for that, I would have suggested to Angelica we stay here and set up a really good ambush ourselves, but I had to agree with her that we needed to get through the gap.

While the Hussars put their heads together to discuss a plan, I got our combined Hungarian and Polish forces digging in all along the forest’s edge. They spread out with good fields of fire. Soon they were stacking deadfalls and digging foxholes.

Angelica came over to see what the soldiers were up to. "Good. Have them continue digging in and be ready for anything. Tamara and Eva are going up the north slope." She pointed slightly behind us and up a steep tree-clad mountain. "I'm taking Veronica to the south. We'll get up above this and see what it looks like on the other side.”

Both north and south, the mountains loomed higher than the gorge in front of us. I nodded. "Yes, sir."

Angelica pointed out a spot on the slope to the south. "We should be able to get up to there and cross over a saddle further up. Make sure you can see that spot. When we know more, I'll signal with my light gun."

I nodded. "Yes, sir." I wasn't sure if I knew what signals they would be using. Maybe I would recognize it when I saw it. I resolved to find someone who did and keep them watching that area. Probably a pair of privates, to keep each other on task.

"Will you be taking your support troops?" I asked. Each of the mechs and riders had a pair of soldiers assigned to them to carry extra gear and assist if needed, to unjam a weapon or dig holes or even field repairs.

Angelica shook her head. "No, keep them with you. If we need help, we'll signal. If it's clear, or we can get it clear, we'll get you all on the road to the other side. That'll be a lot faster than trying to climb those slopes."

I had to agree. I wasn't sure how well the mechs could climb, but considering they were 15 feet tall, they could almost certainly make better time up that slope than a puny human.

A few minutes later, both pairs of mechs stomped away. Hannah stayed with us. We cleared a spot for her mech back in the trees where she had a good view of the pass.

She would hold her autocannon fire for if a Russian mech came through, or if a large enough cluster of troops appeared. Our men’s rifles and the two light machine guns we set up should be enough for anything else.

With everything in position, we waited. Rain from the night before dripped off the leaves. The sun finally cleared the nearby cliffs, and the day started to warm up. Soon insects began to drone, and boredom set in. From time to time, I shifted to get a look at the slope and see if I could spot either of the mech parties. Usually, I couldn't, but occasionally I got a glimpse of one on the south slope.

Tamara and Eva had headed back up the road to find an easier ascent, and I didn't catch sight of them at all. The slope to our north was close to us and heavily wooded, so there just wasn’t any view.

Hopefully, they would have a field of fire from up there, because if anything nasty came through the canyon, it would be really nice to have Tamara's sniper rifle backing us up.

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It had been maybe two hours when we heard the sounds of trucks echoing up the narrow canyon.

A squad of men trooped into view, Russians from their brown coats. They held their rifles ready and scanned the area around them, but we were back in the shadows of the forest, and they were in bright sunlight. The squad cleared the mouth of the canyon and continued along the road.

"Open fire!" I shouted just as a Russian truck came out of the canyon behind them. Three dozen rifles opened up on the Russians. They were 20 yards from cover in either direction and still no chance at all. The entire patrol was cut down in seconds.

The truck slammed on its brakes as our bullets riddled the patrol in front of it. There was a squeal of gears as the driver shifted into reverse. More Russian troops had just emerged from the canyon, They clustered near the truck trying to use it for cover.

Boom!

A shot from the auto cannon of Hannah’s mech blew the truck into a pile of burning scrap.

The blast threw bodies flying.

The Hungarian riflemen to my right had a good field of fire straight down the canyon.

After a minute of gunfire the last of the Russian stragglers was down.

All was silent except the pinging of cooling metal in the wrecked truck and the groans from a few of the Russians who had not been outright killed.

"Should we go check it out?" Corporal Bukowski was our signal man. I had been keeping near him.

"No, let's wait," I said. Back here in the shadows of the trees, we had good cover. Anyone hiding further down the canyon might have a shot as we moved into the light.

"I see a signal." Corporal Bukowksi leaned forward. He was looking up at the mountain where Angelica said she would signal us. He raised a hand to point, then jerked and fell back.

Crack!

Even before we even heard the report of a rifle echoed through the canyon it, Corporal Bukowski was down. I lunged for him. A geyser of dirt fountained two feet to my right. I scooped the corporal up and hauled him deeper into the woods.

Another shot thudded into a tree, but it wasn't near me. I ducked behind two or three heavy trunks as I moved deeper into the shadows, then stopped and set him down behind a log.

He had a wound in his shoulder and nasty exit wound low down on his back. It looked bad. The shot must have come from above and gone down through his torso. He grasped at my hand. He tried to speak, but only managed to choke on blood. Then with a final shudder, he was gone.

I lowered him gently to the pine needles of the forest floor. Our signal gun was tied to his pack. I retrieved it. I tried to remember who else knew the signaling codes. I wasn’t sure if I did or not. Without something to jog my artificial memories, it was hard for me to know.

I was working my way down the line toward where we’d sent the privates to watch for Angelica’s signal. There was a better view to the south past the trees, near the edge of the river. I moved quickly, dodging between the trees, keeping careful note of any gaps that might expose me. I drew another shot that smacked into a tree five yards away. It was far enough that he might have only seen my shadow. In another minute, I had made my way down to the creek bed and along, staying low and moving slower. Finally, I came to Private Gorka.

“Corporal Bukowski is down. The shot came from high on the cliffs to the north. Get a view of the captain's signal without exposing yourself to the north.”

"I can see from here sir. Up there, Sergeant." He pointed up along the saddle to the south.

I didn't see any signal but I’d take his word for it. “Did you get their message, Gorka?"

“Only the end of it, sergeant. Something about waiting.”

I handed him the signal gun. "Do you know how to send?"

"Yes, sergeant."

“Ask her to re-send.”

He took the gun, pointed up the hill, switched on the battery pack, and started pulling the trigger. The shutter clicked as he fired off a couple of strings of code. I couldn't see the light, but the sound of the clicking was making my brain tickle. Maybe I did know the code they were sending in. It wasn't Morse, but it was a similar combination of long and short signals. A faint light blinked at us from up on the hill. Flash, flash, long flash, flash, flash, pause, flash, flash, flash.

My brain itched, and then I was able to read it. I silently blessed the scientists who had given me the upload. It might even have been in the original knowledge that Alexander had loaded. Some of the abbreviations she used weren’t obvious immediately, but I was able to figure it out.

Angelica and Veronica had gone over the south saddle and seen Russians in the village beyond. She told us to stay put and wait for Eva and Tamara.

Ba-boom. Boom

Even as I was puzzling out the message, a double thunder clap echoed down the canyon, followed by a third shot.

"Did anyone see where that came from or where it landed?" I yelled.

“No, sergeant!”

The echoes in the mountains made it impossible to locate. We waited, watching for Angelica to signal again, and a couple of minutes later she did.

Tamara reports snipers eliminated. Prepare to move up through the pass, one half-hour from your acknowledgement of this signal. Then another complicated bit that I puzzled over.

"Sergeant, did you get all that? Should I acknowledge?"

I was able to understand most of her message, but there was one part that left me confused. She said the Russians were in the village with a fortress. Did she mean they had a fortification there, that they had dug in? I hadn't heard anything about this pass having some kind of emplacements, but I hadn't heard much about it at all. Our intel had been rough. Still, it bothered me.

"Yeah, I got it. Send her back, Roger. We'll comply." I moved away as he was clicking furiously on the light gun.

The Hungarian sergeant was hesitant to order his men out in the open, even after I told him the sniper had been eliminated. I sent Wysocki to cover the canyon entrance. I personally dragged the bodies of the Russian squad off the road and tossed them in the creek. I couldn't remember what the Geneva Convention said about war dead, but that was in the future anyway, so fuck 'em.

A couple of them were still moaning, but I wasn't feeling charitable. One of the Hungarians moved in and started to apply first aid. I left him to it. As perforated as these guys were, it was probably pointless.

"It's almost time, sir. Five minutes," Wysocki called softly.

Together we assembled the troops and prepared to enter the narrow canyon.